What is there to say about this crime? A mistake, or unabashed racism or subcultural xenophobia? It’s fucked up that a kid with a sweatshirt on and some candy looked criminally suspicious to someone else. We all know teens can be horrifying in their own, special ways. But this is not one of those cases. What if this was your child/little brother/student/neighbor/friend? Such a stupid act of judgement turned into a child dying.

We may never know what truly triggered the neighborhood watchman to kill Trayvon Martin. But one thing is for sure: We need to get to know the individuals in our neighborhoods and communities. I mean really, how many of your neighbors do you know? What about a couple of neighborhoods over? What about the ‘kids these days’? (because hanging around kids after becoming an adult is jarring learning experience) What about someone in a different subculture of America?

What I take away from this is that we all need to know each other better. We sit in our homes, on our computers, watching things we want to watch, etc. And while some of us may know that people are people and not stereotypes, there are some people out there that only surround themselves with like-minded folk who are afraid of anyone in a headscarf and apparently black youth buying candy.